Role of mass media in water quality management

The underlying assumption in traditional water resources planning process still continues to be: “fresh water is a gift of God, continued to be available in perpetuity and in abundance’. It is seen that elements important to the media agenda become central to the public mind. Public understanding of many issues including social issues can be treated as an example of a mass communication problem that has yet to be adequately solved. Many studies in the developing countries including India suggest that although people are aware of the water quality management problem in a general sense, understanding of particular causes, possible consequences, and solutions is severely limited. Expression mediums frequently presume that by increasing coverage, the media can create the desired depth and breadth of individual and public understanding, and once that is achieved people will start to participate in solving various issues related to our environment.